Paint applicator



May 17, 1960 L. c. KARNES 2,936,473

PAINT APPLICATOR Filed Jan. 6, 1958 INVENTOR, LAURE-rre c. KARMES AT'roRNEY United States i Patent PAINT APPLICATOR Laurette C. Karnes, Detroit, Mich.

Application January 6, 1958, Serial No. 707,328

1 Claim. (Cl. 15-209) The applicator disclosed herein consists of a handle, a head set transversely on one end thereof, and a pair of exible elements, each being capable of absorbing a quantity of paint or other liquid medium for transfer to a surface to be coated with said medium. As one and in some cases both elements may consist of soft pads of felt, and as such pads are liable to lose their initial resiliency when saturated with a liquid and are likely to become too limp for their operative use, I have improved the head of the applicator in such a manner as to provide therein a stili support in order to brace said felt pads.

I have made a further improvement by combining in said head elements of two different materials, speciiically, a brush made of bristles or resilient and stiff bers and a pad of soft felt. Furthermore, it was my object to have an applicator capable of holding a quantity of paint, to eliminate the necessity of too frequent dippings of the applicator in a container of paint for absorption of suflicient quantity thereof for painting. Finally, my object was to produce an applicator in which the paint-carrying element may be cleaned and washed for repeated use, but which will be very reasonable in cost.

I shall now describe my applicator with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

Fig. 1 is a plan elevational view of the applicator;

Fig. 2 is a side view of one species of the applicator with a part of its handle shown in section;

Fig. 3 is a side view of the applicator as applied against a at vertical surface;

Fig. 4 is a perspective view of a modified species of my applicator, the applicator being shown in said Fig. 4 without its handle;

Fig. 5 is a perspective view of a replaceable brush adapted to t into a special seat in the head of the applicator.

Similar numerals refer to similar parts throughout the several views.

The applicator shown in Figs. 1, 2, and 3 consist of an oblong holder, generally marked 10, a handle 11 on which the holder is mounted, and two felt pads 12 disposed in the head in a parallel relation to each other. The holder itself is made of an oblong member including a at bottom 13, two upright llanges 14 which rise upwardly from the bottom, one along one side, the other valong the other side of the bottom, and a vertical partition 15 which rises vertically from the bottomand divides the inner space of the holder into two oblong channels. This s best shown in Fig. 4 where one such channel is marked 16. It will be noted that the upper end of the partition 15, that is, the end remote from the base of the holder 10, extends to a line midway the upper level of the anges 14 and the outer ends of the pads. The bottom of the holder includes an integrallyformed external boss 17 which, intermediate its length, contains a threaded aperture 18 for reception of the threaded end portion 19 of the handle 11. At its opposite end, the handle is provided with an axial bore 20,

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permitting the use of a rod or pole on which the applicator may be mounted by having one end of the pole inserted into the said bore 20.

Each of the llangesv14 and the partition 15 are provided with a plurality of apertures 21 along a line running parallel to the bottom 13, the holes in one liange being in register with similar apertures 21a in the partition and with the apertures in the opposite ange for reception of bolts 22 to which I shall refer again.

What is to be noted is that each of the felt members 12 is partly defined at its outer end, that is, the end remote from the holder, by an oblique face 25, the face of one member being set at an angle to the face of the other member so that the unit at that end, which :is its operative end, is tapered, as best shown in Figs. 2 and 3.

When the operative end of the applicator is dipped into paint, a quantity of it will adhere to the outer surfaces of the unit as a whole, but a quantity of paint will also be picked up between the at, adjoining surface of the members. This quantity will be available to be squeezed out against the surface to be painted when the felt members are pressed against said surface in the manner shown in Fig. 3. The drawing shows the applicator in its operative position, on the downstroke, with the broad surface of the felt unit held transversely to the direction of the stroke. When the unit is ilexed sufficiently, the face 25 of the lower member 12 will be disposed practically parallel to the surface S to be painted. On the upward stroke the unit would be tiexed in the other direction so that the face 25 of the upper felt member 12 would be substantially parallel to said surface S.

The applicator shown in Fig. 4 differs from the one shown is Figs. l to 3 in the respect that instead of having two fiat felt pads, it includes only one felt. pad 12 which is seated in one channel 16 of the head 10, while seated in the other channel is a brush made of bristles or stiff fibers. The brush consists of a multiplicity of bristles 31 bound at one end by a metal band 30, and forms a unit which may be placed in one of the channels in the head t. 10. In order that it may be secured in its channel against displacement, the band contains a plurality of apertures 32 for register with similar apertures 21 in the flanges 14. Thus, the bolts which ordinarily pass through two felt pads would, in this case, serve to hold the brush in its place.

It will be noted that the outer end of the bristles end at the level of the outer end of the adjoining felt pad 12.

The operator of the applicator shown in Fig. 4 is at liberty to use the bristle brush for applying a primary coat of paint, while the felt pad may be used for a finishing operation on the surface already painted by means of the bristle brush,

After having described my improved applicator, what I wish to claim is as follows:

A paint applicator including an oblongA holder having two parallel sides and a fiat bottom, an upward flange ris ing from the bottom along each of the two parallel sides, the anges being parallel to each other, and an integrally formed tiat partition between said anges dividing the space therebetween into two parallel channels, a replaceable felt pad having the form o-f a rectangle secured within each channel, a marginal portion of the pad defining one side of the rectangle being in abutment with said bottom, while the marginal portion of the pad along the side of the rectangle parallel to the rst named side forms the outer end of the pad, each of the pads at its outer end being defined by a face slanting towards the outer end of the other pad, the end of the partition remote from the base reaching to a line midway between the upper level of the lianges and the outer ends of the pads.

(References on following page) 3 References Cited in the le of ths patent 4 Peed -..1.--- Dee. 28, 1926 Steigerwald Ian. 14, 1936 lThomas 'July 2, 1940 Jones et al July 11, 1950 Karnes July 5, 1955 FOREIGN PATENTS Great Britain. July 14, 1910 

